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July 17, 2013

Madeline’s Music

When musician Madeline Adams first heard Neutral Milk Hotel's album "In the Airplane Over the Sea," it was a leap into another world. A world where musicians sounded and looked more real not like the Beatles; the mythical performers she’d grown up with. We hear a story in Madeline Adams’ own words.

Music:

“Oh Comely” by Neutral Milk Hotel; “I Know That You Won't” and “Hurry Up Pronto” by Madeline

Jimmy Grashow first saw Rome’s Trevi Fountain in the mid-sixties, when he studied in Italy as a young sculptor. The fountain was originally designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, and his marble horses and gods of the sea tower 85 feet above the crowds of tourists. Grashow has recreated the massive fountain…in cardboard. His work is the subject of the documentary, The Cardboard Bernini.

When Navy Lieutenant Jacob Joubert got orders to move to Raleigh, N.C.as an ROTC instructor, he was at a low point in his life. A tough, tattooed kid from a tough Illinois town, he'd been saved by enlisting and then getting married and becoming an officer. Now, years later, he'd gone though a divorce and moved to a place where he knew no one. Then Jake remembered a long-ago passion for painting. He came up with the idea of reminding people of every single soldier who had died in America's wars - over a million people, each represented with a hash mark. Also, the lead singer of the band Cracker is personally against the war in Iraq. But one of his songs, Yalla Yalla, became a hit with soldiers.

Ray Matthews captured his memories of South Hill, Virginia on canvas for years and tucked the paintings away in his apartment. He worked low-wage jobs and continued to paint. It was when he sold one painting to the local general store to get some money for medicine for his mom that Janet Hubbard took notice and set out to meet Ray.

In the past 4 years, the drug war in Mexico has claimed over 34,000 lives. Today people begin marching all over Mexico, calling for an end to the violence and President Calderon’s war on the drug traffickers. The unlikely leader of this nascent movement is writer and poet Javier Sicilia. His 24-year-old son was murdered last month. Javier says that poetry for him has died, but he has found another voice - speaking out against corrupt politicians, and the murder of so many innocent Mexicans.